I used Ronnie O’Sullivan and Jimmy White to promote Mosconi Cup – snooker legends would stand no chance today
BARRY HEARN has believes that Ronnie O’Sullivan would not stand a chance at the Mosconi Cup.
The Matchroom chief used the Rocket to promote the nine-ball pool competition when it launched in 1994.
O’Sullivan was part of the promotion of the Mosconi Cup and other similar events.
However, despite being the seven-time world Champion in snooker, Hearn believes O’Sullivan would struggle against the current sport’s stars.
He told The Mirror: “When we started the Mosconi, I used to use Jimmy White, Steve Davis, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Alex Higgins… and it was purely to give the event more status and a bit more exposure.
“They’ve been replaced now because they’re not good enough to compete at the level European players are playing at.
“As my old mate Steve [Davis] told me, ‘I don’t miss a pot.
“But I don’t understand how they get in positions as easy as they do.”
Many snooker professionals have tried to succeed at nine-ball over the last 30 years.
The likes of Judd Trump, Jack Lisowski and Stephen Hendry have appeared at events.
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The currently world No.10 Gary Wilson has enjoyed some success tow swap sports.
Meanwhile, Stuart Bingham has also thrown his hat into the pool ring.
Snooker vs Pool
SNOOKER has long been considered the big brother of cue sports - in Britain at least.
But pool is a rapidly-growing sport around the rest of the world and certainly holds more popularity than snooker in the US and certain parts of the Far East, though China is considered snooker’s second home.
Matchroom, who promote both snooker and pool, have helped the prize money grow for the pool World Champion to grow from $50k to $250k in just a couple of years and Shaw thinks more sponsorship and TV airtime is the key to it growing further.
“The more it gets on TV and gets pushed out there the more it will grow, says Shaw. “Matchroom do a great job promoting it, it’s kind of a little bit easier to try and attract sponsors when you have such a good team with TV and media and all that stuff behind you.
“Matchroom are a big company but you can’t just keep pumping money in, you need to find other sponsors to grow… we’re definitely on the right track.”
Pool has also seen snooker players cross over into the sport, sometimes to great success.
Steve Davis (above, second left) has won the Mosconi Cup, while Mark Selby and Tony Drago have individual titles in the sport.
There has not been much success going the other way and Shaw – who beat Judd Trump in the US Open Pool Championship in 2021 – says the safety game and level of concentration needed are the deciding factors.
Shaw says: “I got invited to the 900 series last year, obviously it’s one frame with a shot clock.
“There were a few players that were off the[snooker] tour, had been retired a little bit.
“You can compete over one or two frames, but I think over a long distance it’s not possible.
“Just because of how much time they put into the game, how good their technique has to be. In pool you have to be fast and loose.
“You don’t have that compact style where you’re standing real tight to the cue ball.
“I think going from snooker to pool, yeah, can happen, because it’s a little bit easier.
“For them it’s all about the angles, breaking, jumping, you know, all that type of stuff.
“For us with snooker, you need a good safety game against someone like that. They’re just going to get 100 breaks every game.”
But Hearn has insisted that it is an “entirely different game” and does believe that some snooker stars will be able to “adjust”.
The Mosconi Cup is seen as the Ryder Cup of pool as it sees stars from the US take on those from Europe.
It celebrates its 30th anniversary this year in Orlando, Florida at the Caribe Royale.
There will be some added drama to this year’s event as the world’s No.1 Fedor Gorst has switched from Team Europe to the US.
The Moscow-born star won the trophy in 2020 but has swapped sides after being granted US citizenship.
List of all-time Snooker World Champions
BELOW is a list of snooker World Champions by year.
The record is for the modern era, widely considered as dating from the 1968-69 season, when the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) took control of the sport.
The first World Championships ran from 1927 – with a break from 1941-45 because of World War II and 1958-63 because of a dispute in the sport.
Joe Davis (15), Fred Davis and John Pulman (both 8) were the most successful players during that period.
Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan share the record for the most titles in the modern era, with seven each.
- 1969 – John Spencer
- 1970 – Ray Reardon
- 1971 – John Spencer
- 1972 – Alex Higgins
- 1973 – Ray Reardon (2)
- 1974 – Ray Reardon (3)
- 1975 – Ray Reardon (4)
- 1976 – Ray Reardon (5)
- 1977 – John Spencer (2)
- 1978 – Ray Reardon (6)
- 1979 – Terry Griffiths
- 1980 – Cliff Thorburn
- 1981 – Steve Davis
- 1982 – Alex Higgins (2)
- 1983 – Steve Davis (2)
- 1984 – Steve Davis (3)
- 1985 – Dennis Taylor
- 1986 – Joe Johnson
- 1987 – Steve Davis (4)
- 1988 – Steve Davis (5)
- 1989 – Steve Davis (6)
- 1990 – Stephen Hendry
- 1991 – John Parrott
- 1992 – Stephen Hendry (2)
- 1993 – Stephen Hendry (3)
- 1994 – Stephen Hendry (4)
- 1995 – Stephen Hendry (5)
- 1996 – Stephen Hendry (6)
- 1997 – Ken Doherty
- 1998 – John Higgins
- 1999 – Stephen Hendry (7)
- 2000 – Mark Williams
- 2001 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
- 2002 – Peter Ebdon
- 2003 – Mark Williams (2)
- 2004 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (2)
- 2005 – Shaun Murphy
- 2006 – Graeme Dott
- 2007 – John Higgins (2)
- 2008 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (3)
- 2009 – John Higgins (3)
- 2010 – Neil Robertson
- 2011 – John Higgins (4)
- 2012 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (4)
- 2013 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (5)
- 2014 – Mark Selby
- 2015 – Stuart Bingham
- 2016 – Mark Selby (2)
- 2017 – Mark Selby (3)
- 2018 – Mark Williams (3)
- 2019 – Judd Trump
- 2020 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (6)
- 2021 – Mark Selby (4)
- 2022 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (7)
- 2023 – Luca Brecel
- 2024 – Kyren Wilson
Most World Titles (modern era)
- 7 – Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan
- 6 – Ray Reardon, Steve Davis
- 4 – John Higgins, Mark Selby
- 3 – John Spencer, Mark Williams
- 2 – Alex Higgins